PA boycott threatens tradesmen with jail time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

In the coming days every Palestinian home in the West Bank will receive a detailed list of 500 products the Palestinian Authority has decided to boycott. The campaign against Israeli products, set to be launched Tuesday, is backed by a recently passed law entailing prison sentences and fines.

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How to tell if there's progress in Israeli- Palestinian talks?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis are to kick off on Tuesday with the visit to Ramallah of United States special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. Later in the week he is slated to hold talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem. These initial indirect or proximity talks will first tackle border issues and security. For some regional analysts, this is the best way to begin the process, while others see this approach as doomed to fail.

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Fayyad’s popularity on rise in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ali Sawafta - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

His efforts are bearing fruit. Even some of Fayyad’s rivals admit that his stock is on the rise among Palestinians tired of leaders who have failed to deliver them statehood or prosperity. Fayyad could even be in line for higher office, they say, although the premier routinely denies such personal ambition. They acknowledge that the former World Bank economist, a political independent who is not a member of the long dominant Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is making an impact.

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Middle East Plan B
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Sasha Polakow-Suransky - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

“I think this is a very big deal,” President Clinton declared to a group of American Jews and Arabs after the legions of photographers left the White House grounds on Sept. 13, 1993. However, Clinton warned, it would take commitment and hard work to guarantee that the historic Israeli-Palestinian Accord signed that day would “truly be a turning point.”

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Beyond negotiations: Palestinian strategies for advancing peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service
by Hussein Ibish - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON, DC - The Obama administration was successful in arranging for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations through “proximity talks”, which began last week, but expectations in all quarters are correctly low for any near-term breakthrough. Consequently, Palestinians have been systematically developing a new set of peaceful strategies to achieve independence and advance a resolution to the conflict.

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Architect eyes tony Palestinian city with eco-mindset and fast Internet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The state Palestinians dream of may not actually exist by next summer, as the Palestinian premier recently promised. But at the very least, a city upon a hill may have started to rise, with ground already being broken in the first planned Palestinian community – and the first new Palestinian city to be built in centuries.

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UN report says human security absent in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - The widespread absence of human security in the occupied Palestinian territory has impeded progress for Palestinians, the latest UN Human Development Report found.

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Obama to Abbas: I am committed to creation of Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged commitment to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state and vowed to hold both Israel and the Palestinians accountable if either side takes actions that "undermine trust" during U.S.-mediated talks launched this week. In a telephone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama welcomed the beginning of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and reiterated his strong support for the two-state solution.

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Israel's tourism ministry is wiping Palestinians off the map
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Daoud Kuttab - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israeli-Palestinian negotiations restart, Palestinians are determined to begin by tackling the issue of borders, before working backwards toward deciding how to implement the establishment of a Palestinian state. Once agreement is reached on borders, the thinking goes, it will become clear who has the right to decide whether or not settlement activity can continue.

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AN ISRAELI VIEW: The best of a bad lot?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Gilead Sher - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The good news first: after more than a year wasted over trial and error in United States foreign policy, President Barack Obama has set the Israeli-Palestinian process back on track. The bad news is that for the first time in close to two decades, Israelis and Palestinians will be talking indirectly to one another.

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